Articles by
Paul Gipe

Why Charge to 80 Percent?
By
Paul Gipe
There are two situations where it's wise to charge your EV only to 80% State-of-Charge (SOC). The first situation is to prolong battery life. The second is as a courtesy to other drivers.

Chevy Bolt 225 Mile Roundtrip with 21 Percent Charge Remaining
By
Paul Gipe
We're a one-car family and our vehicle is a Chevy Bolt EV. So when friends decided to go backpacking in the Golden Trout Wilderness during the Covid-19 pandemic, social distancing required that we each drive separately to and from the trailhead.

New Additions to Images of Cultural Icons: Greeting Cards and Sketchbooks
By
Paul Gipe
Under Cultural Icons Featuring Wind Turbines, I've added two new categories.

Power Performance Test on the Ogin 2.2 Ducted Wind Turbine Prototype
By
Paul Gipe
I've received a portion of Intertek's 2016 power performance test of Ogin's Model 2.2 150-kW ducted wind turbine "over the transom" as we say. The much hyped and controversial device delivered its rated power in the test.

The Devil Wears a Halo: Ducted Turbine Rises from the Grave
By
Paul Gipe
Flamboyant ducted wind turbine venture Ogin died a costly death in 2017, taking with it hundreds of millions in investments. The debacle tarnished the reputations of Technology Review, Arpa (DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency), Vice President Al Gore, and venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins all of whom had helped hype the "revolutionary" design.

Ducted Turbines & Rooftop Mounting: Will These Ideas Ever Die? Not with DOE Doling Out Funding
By
Paul Gipe
The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced 19 November 2019 that the Distributed Wind Competitiveness Improvement Project had awarded a grant to Ducted Turbines of Potsdam, New York for nearly $200,000.

Derelict FloDesign-Ogin Ducted Device Still Standing in Antelope Valley
By
Paul Gipe
Yep, it's still there. Derelict and long abandoned, the FloDesign-Ogin prototype ducted wind turbine is still standing in the Antelope Valley between I-5 and Lancaster and north of Hwy 138.

My Feedback on the Film “Planet of the Humans”
By
Paul Gipe
Neal Livingston called and asked me to watch the film Planet of the Humans and provide some context on the environmental benefits of renewable energy. Neal's an award-winning documentary film maker from Nova Scotia. He knows film, but he's also a doer. He and his partners installed three Enercon wind turbines on his Cape Breton land to practice what he preaches.

Chevy Bolt Expedition: 200-Mile Round Trip on One Charge
By
Paul Gipe
With spring wildflowers beckoning and little chance of breaking social distancing orders, we headed to a remote site between Bakersfield and the coast famous for its spectacular blooms.

Kern County California and Madison County Indiana Covid-19 Update
By
Paul Gipe
I live in Kern County, California. I was raised in Madison County, Indiana and still have family there. As the Coronavirus sweeps across the continent, my concern focuses on these two quite different counties.

Climbing the Elkhorn Grade in a Chevy Bolt EV
By
Paul Gipe
With bright sunshine, spring in the air, and a bit of cabin fever, we headed west out of Bakersfield to a remote site on the Carrizo Plains National Monument hunting wild flowers. Social distancing wasn't a problem. Most of the time there wasn't a human in sight for as far as the eye could see.

CANCELLED DUE to COVID-19 LOCKDOWN–34nd Annual Windmill-Wildflower Hike Planned for Tehachapi May 16, 2020
By
Paul Gipe
The Kern-Kaweah Chapter of the Sierra Club will lead a hike among the wind turbines on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) at 9:00 am on Saturday May 16, 2020 near Tehachapi, California.
